A. Dimadis and D. Avramopoulos | Dimitris Avramopoulos was meant to handle one of the biggest humanitarian challenges in the European Union’s history: the refugee crisis. Well-respected in EU circles, Avramopoulos assumed his tenure in the European Commission in a period while the union’s cohesion had been intensively tested by the refugee crisis and terrorist threat, with both issues raising questions about EU border protection.